Das Unbekannte Spanien (Picturesque Spain), Kurt Hielscher
Das Unbekannte Spanien
(Picturesque Spain)
Baukunst * Landschaft * Volksleben
(Architecture * Landscape * Life Of The People)
By Kurt Hielscher
Dedicated to: 'His Majesty King Alfons XIII. of Spain'
-Rare large oversized book-
304 High Quality Sepia Toned Photogravures
Taken with... Zeiss Ikon/Ica camera and Zeiss objectives on Agfa Chromo Isorapid and Chromo Isolar plates and Isopan films
A photogravure, or gravure, is a photographic image produced from a copper engraving plate. The process is rarely used today due to the high costs involved, but it produces prints which have the subtlety of a photograph and the art quality of a lithograph.
In this monograph you will find 304 stunning images of Towns, Gateways, Towers, Fortified Walls, Streets, Squares, Churches, Convents, Chapels, Cemeteries, Squares, Public Buildings, Typical Houses, Courts, Patios, Gardens, Stairways, Lattice Windows, Fountains, Bridges, Castles, Landscapes, Costumes and Life of the People.
Albarracin, Albufera, Alcala de Guadaira, Aldeanueva de la Vera, Algatocin, Alhambra, Almazan, Alquezar, Andujar, Antequera, Aranjuez, Arcos de la Frontera, Arranda de Duero, Autol, Avila, Barcelona, Batuecas, Bielsa, Bilbao, Burgo de Osma, Burgos, Butron, Brachimanasee, Caceres, Candelario, Cangas de Onis, Carmona, Castellbo, Castellfullit, Cave Dwellings, Cenaruza, Cepeda, Chorro, Ciudad Rodrigo, Coca, Cordoba, Cuenca, Daroca, Debotes Valley, Durango, Ecija, Elche, Elorrio, Escorial, Fuenterabia, Gerona, Granada, Guadalajara, Guadalest, Guadix, Güejar-Sierra, Hermida, Hurdes, Jativa, Javea, Jerez de la Frontera, Jerica, La Alberca, Lagartera, Madrid, Maladeta, Manaria, Manzanera, Martos, Medinaceli, Mochagar, Mogarraz, Mombeltran, Monte Agudo, Montserrat, Niebla, Nuria, Ondarroa, Orihuela, Oviedo, Pancorbo, Pasages, Penafiel, Pena Montanesa, Pic de Aneto, Pic du midi, Picos de Europa, Pontevedra, Potes, Pyrenees, Ronda, Sagunt, Salamanca, San Esteban de Gormaz, San Juan de Plan, San Sebastian, Santander, Santiago de Campostela, Sarragoza, Segovia, Segretal, Sepulveda, Seville, Sierra Nevada, Sigüenza, Soria, Tarifa, Tarazona, Tarragona, Toledo, Toro, Trujillo, Turregano, Valencia, Valladolid, Vigo, Yuste, Zafra, Zamora.
By the author...
Spain is one great open-air museum containing the cultural wealth of the most varied epochs and peoples. On the walls of the Altamari cave is blazoned that much admired steer painted thousands of years ago by men of the Ice Age. In Barcelona stand the fantastic buildings of neo-Castilian present-day art. Celts, Iberians, Romans, Carthaginians, Moors and Goths have fought and struggled for supremacy in Spain. Of all this the stones tell us to-day. They are the chronicles. They relate of bitter strife of the culture and art aspirations belonging to times gone by. Much has vanished into dust and ruin. That which has survived time's fretting tooth serves as a bridge to lead us back to the past.
Fate was kind enough to let me spend five years in Spain. Caught there by the war while engaged in studies, I was cut off from home. l made use of my involuntary stay to become acquainted with the country in its furthermost corners. I roved to and fro from the pinnacles of the Pyrenees to the shores of Tarifa, from the palm forest of Elche to the forgotten Hurdes inhabitants of Estremadura.
On all my lonely wanderings I was accompanied by my faithful camera: we covered over 45000 kilometres together in Spain. We kept our eyes open diligently. I say we, for in addition to mine was a precious glass eye in the shape of the Zeiss lens. Whereas my eyes only made me the intellectual recipient of what we saw, that of my travelling companion made it a pictorial permanency. I took over 2000 photographs during our peregrinations. This volume only presents a small selection. It was not easy to make the final choice. Many a picture had to be omitted to which I was attached, either for its peculiarity or its character.
There are captions for all the photographs in five languages; English, Spanish, Italian, German, French.